Alright. Another AndersonVision assignment. Hope you all enjoy.

http://www.andersonvision.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=128

United States, 1962
U.S. Release Date: 4/22/62
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
MPAA Classification: Not Rated
Runtime: 123 min.
Cast: James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O’Brien, Andy Devin, Ken Murray

Director: John Ford
Screenplay: James Warner Bellah
Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Original Score: Cyril Mockridge
Studio: Paramount Studios


“This is the west, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

This is perhaps the last great “classic” film to come from Hollywood’s golden age. Within a year or less, the great studio system which dominated filmdom for almost forty years would be dead. In Europe, men like Fellini and Bergman were revolutionizing cinema in their own manner and a cultural upheaval was about to take place in America so it is truly amazing that such a great film would come out at the time.


Told in a flashback by elderly Senator Ransom Stodard (James Stewart) to newspaper reporters in his hometown, the film recounts Stodard’s days as a young lawyer in the town; the days where bandits rules and civilization relied on the gun, not due process, for justice. Stodard encounters a fierce hired gun named Liberty Valence (Lee Marvin) and finds himself having to face not only Marvin but the ways of the west which stand in contrast to those of his better nature. It stands to Tom Doniphan, to help the young Stodard as the inevitable gun-battle with Valence looms close.

All of the principals cast in the film perform magnificently. Stewart playing Stodard is just great. You can see how committed he is to his conception law and order. Stewart always was perfect playing the idealist and he himself represent civilization coming to the rural west; marking the close of the days of men like Valence and Doniphan. Lee Marvin is a pleasure to watch on-screen and truly shows us one of the most ruthless characters in western film history. And Wayne is the typical Wayne throughout the film but becoming quite more layered as the film plays out and as he succumbs to alcoholism as his very way of life collapses before his eyes.

One of the most striking things about the film is director John Ford’s sparse shooting style. Not a sprawling epic with the majestic shots of Monument Valley about it like “The Searchers”, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence” is a quite sparse movie shot on the Paramount back lot in black and white with a relatively low budget. The direction is typical Ford; quick, efficient and pitch perfect for the western. This is no doubt a man who knows what he is doing. There are no gimmicks either. He doesn’t need music and he doesn’t need expensive camera effects for the final encounter between Valence and Stodard. It’s quick and real and perfectly paced. Yet in Ford’s way, he also allows a romanticism to lie about the film as seen in John Wayne’s character.

It is fair to say that it was not only a man who died during the gun-battle between Stodard and Valence. As Valence’s corpse falls, so does Doniphan himself and yet something rises. The legend about the man who shot liberty Valence, and so the film changes from a mere build-up to a gun battle to an account of how the west was built and the very nature of what a legend is and how it is formed.

It is a sad film throughout. There is nothing upbeat about it. It is showing you the death of old American Chivalry with men like Doniphan. It is the elegy to the old fashioned western and as the train rides off into the horizon and we here the line “Nothing is too good for the man who shot Liberty Valence”, we, now more than ever, live with the realization of that fact. And even more than that, we live with the realization and the satisfaction that we’ve just been able to see one of the greatest westerns ever made.

Great review, mate, of a great classic western.

To see Marvin and Wayne share the screen together, I'm sure the testosterone produced alone could have given the current President his balls back.

Keep up the good critical work!

This is amovie I watch whenever it is on. Maybe Wayne's best performance of all time. There are great themes about racial equality and other "messages" in this movie that are timeless. Marvin is so over the top EVIL in this picture, he makes it a classic.

Of Course Lee Marvin was one of the all time greats who turned in great performances in Cat Ballou and in The Dirty Dozen.

I've posted it a few times that this is one of my favorite westerns of all-time. It is quintessential John Wayne - the macho, steak and potatoes, damn-the-political-correct-I'll-do-what-is necessary, gunslinging hero.

While one has to admire Stewart's Ransom Stoddard with his high ideals and respect for the law you have to love Wayne's Tom Doniphan with his regard for what is right!

I'm not a big western fan, but I saw this movie when it was released and loved it. As a matter of fact, I know I went back to see it again when it went to another theater a while after it's original release. It's been so many years, I'm sure I'm more than ready to see it again.

SC, remember the title song????? For some reason, if I remember correctly, it wasn't played in the movie was it?

Anyway, one of my favorite westerns.

TIS

No, it wasn't in the movie. Gene Pitney's version was one of the best film songs ever.

Yeah. Some copyright snafu at the last minute prohibited it from being used. Really, I'm glad. The way I see it is that is a perfect work. The death of an era. It now left Sam Peckinpah to carve the gravestone of the the Western with "The Wild Bunch".

The song was released at the same time, done by the late Gene Pitney, also famous for "A town Without Pity."

Great scene in that movie was when Marvin tripped Stewart and Wayne's steak fell on the floor. Wayne and Valence were going to kill each other over who had to pick it up.

I just finished watching it.

The key here is found in the title, which on first thought perhaps contradicts the main thread of the narrative, which concentrates more on Stewart than Wayne. But then, this turns, in the final moments of the film (which is, of course, told in flashback), into a nostalgic, almost rueful tone, with a nod to the notion of myths, and the birth of a nation--or at least the evolution of one into a new age.

Ford's eye for composition is shown to full extent here; he makes full use of black and white and the lighting which makes such aesthetic choices important. One scene which immediately comes to mind is that in which Peabody leaves the Shinbone Star in darkness, and the camera remains fixed, so as to accentuate his shadow on the wall. One cringes in expectation of the shadows to appear of Liberty Valance and his gang. But they don't. Instead, Peabody gets drunk, returns to the store, and this time, when he re-lights the lamp, Liberty's waiting. It's a brilliantly done scene, and the violent beating of Peabody has a cold detachment in the absence of Stewart's Stoddard.

The tension in that steak-dropping scene is brilliant. I loved the shots of Wayne silently sitting before he actually intervenes.

I loved this film. The whole situation of John Wayne's character is probably what effects me the most. All this talk is making me wanna see this again.

Do I sense a John Wayne fan in the making? Have you watched "Stagecoach" yet, DV?

In the making? After The Shootist, The Searchers, Rio Bravo, Hondo, Big Jake, El Dorado, Chisum, The Sons of Katie Elder, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance I could safely call myself a fan. :p

The Shootist is his greatest performance to me, and no I haven't seen Stagecoach. I need to get the new special edition DVD.

I enjoyed "The Shootist" as well but there are a few of his earlier westerns that are better (IMO).

Check out the John Ford/John Wayne "trilogy" of "Fort Apache", "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and "Rio Grande". All three stand on their own merit and are wonderful films.

"Stagecoach" (IMO) is his second best (behind "The Searchers").

The Searchers is the best to me but I meant performance-wise for The Shootist although it's a great film itself.

Well, I'm a full fledged fan here: The Quiet Man, Stagecoach, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, Sands of Iwo Jima, Fort Apache, The Green Berets (Ugh!!), Hondo, Island in the Sky, The High and the Mighty amoung a couple of others.

It's amazing how John Ford can tell a story with such dimension and purpose and never make it too artsy. He is the consumate storyteller. His films define America for me. They speak about it's history, the people about it and in his westerns like Fort Apache, alegory prevails and makes statements about America in the 1940's and America some 3 score years before.

A genius.

The Searchers and Stagecoach and The Man who Shot Liberty Valence are my favorites.

My 3 favorite John Wayne movies are McClintock!, The Quiet Man, and Red River with Montgomery Clift. McClintock! is very seldom on TV, and Red River is an oldie but goodie that's very seldom on, it's in B&W. You should watch it sometime if you get the chance.

Stagecoach is brilliant. I watched it last night/this morning. One of those now famous classics which hurtle along without a moment to spare; it happens to be a number of things: a credible romance (the scenes with Wayne and Trevor are electric), a fully realised character ensemble, a sharp social commentary, a suspenseful action film and a biting comedy. Andy Devine steals the show as the bumbling stagecoach driver, with hot competition from Donald Meek as the reverand.

I might watch Fort Apache tonight.

Thats a great, succinct synopsis of "Stagecoach", Mick. It would've been a wonderful movie even if it wasn't a "western" and could've taken place anywhere else. Wayne's "Ringo" character is quite a bit different from that he portrayed in "Liberty Valance" but its one of Wayne's best character portrayals.

"Fort Apache" is equally good as an ensemble film. Wayne's buddies Ward Bond and Victor McLaglen have great roles (as usual) and Henry Fonda's portrayal of a bitter colonel who opposes Wayne's advice is superb.

Ford shows the Indian's side of them getting screwed in this, his first, entry of the trilogy.

I'm about to re-watch "Fort Apache". I always felt it ws the best of the cavalry trilogy but I just got copies of them all so I can update my opinions. It's been a few years since I've seen them all.

Whilre we're on about Fort Apache, I did indeed watch it last night.

A film all about conflict: that between the cavaliers and the Native Americans is dealt with exposively at the climax, in one of Ford's most dramatic setpieces; but there are also personal battles, such as the exciting clash between Wayne and Fonda throughout the film. But this is Fonda's film, it must be said, and his portrayal of a self-destructive, obsessive colonel trying to juggle between duty and ambition is fascinating to watch.